Lightning McQueen
Lightning "Stickers" McQueen''' is the main protagonist of the series and movies. He is a racecar, who races for the Piston Cup. Lightning is named after Glenn McQueen. He is very selfish at first, but takes a detour to the sleepy town of Radiator Springs and learns to make friends and there is more to life than winning. Lightning's first sponsor was called "Smell Swell" (this was before he got Rust-eze). He is voiced by Keith Ferguson Owen Wilson in the movies, Mater and the Ghostlight, Cars: The Video Game, and season 3 of Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales. Story Motor Speedway of the South In the last race of the season, the Dinoco 400, Chick Hicks, The King, and McQueen were in a three-way tie in the points lead. During the race, Chick spun out McQueen and then caused a large chain reaction wreck using the RPM Car hoping to wreck McQueen. However, with masterful driving, McQueen was able to not only avoid the wreck but stay out of the pit and be in first place. Throughout the rest of the race, McQueen built a huge lead. Despite the warnings of his pit crew members, McQueen did not change his tires. On the final lap of the race, McQueen blew both of his rear tires. Chick and King caught up and the race turned into a three-way tie with a tie-breaker race to be held at the Los Angeles Motor Speedway. His Detour Lightning McQueen left for California in Mack for the tie-breaker race. McQueen did not allow Mack to have any rest and Mack dozed off on the highway. Then Boost, Snot Rod, Wingo, and DJ were playing jokes on the sleeping Mack which ultimately leads to Mack going on the rumble strips causing McQueen bobbleheads to fall on a switch which opens Mack's rear trailer door. McQueen drops onto the highway to oncoming traffic. He follows a truck off an exit but it turns out that truck wasn't Mack. McQueen tries to get back onto the interstate but instead goes into Radiator Springs. A sleeping Sheriff was awaken by McQueen's loud noises and he gives chase. During the chase, Sheriff backfires causing McQueen to think they were gunshots. McQueen then accidentally tears up the road with the statue of the town's founder, Stanley. The next morning, McQueen meets Mater a friendly tow truck who is to guard McQueen at night. McQueen is taken to traffic court where he is punished by having to fix the road. McQueen then rushes through the road and makes it look horrible. The town's doctor, Doc Hudson, challenges McQueen to a race around Willy's Butte, a large landmark in the town. If Doc wins, McQueen has to fix the road, if McQueen wins, he can leave. McQueen ultimately falls into a cactus patch coming out of the third turn and Doc easily cruises to victory. The next morning the town awakens to find a beautiful road. Sally then offers for McQueen to stay at one of her Cozy Cone Motel which McQueen excepts. That night, Mater takes McQueen tractor tipping which results in them getting chased by Frank the harvester. On the way back to Radiator Springs, McQueen promises a Mater a helicopter ride and Mater declares McQueen his best friend. McQueen wakes up the next morning to find Doc working on Sheriff in the clinic. McQueen was roughly shooed out by Doc and angrily kicks a can aside. The can hits something in Doc's garage and McQueen enters. There McQueen discovers that Doc was the Fabulous Hudson Hornet. Upset that McQueen discovered his secret, Doc asks McQueen to leave. Later, Sally and McQueen take a drive to Wheel Well Motel. Along the way, McQueen sees the beautiful sights and learns that the motel was one of the favorite stops in the area. There she explained how the town was bypassed by the interstate. She also said that she wished she could have seen the town during its heyday. When McQueen returns to Radiator Springs, he sees Doc race beautifully on the Willy's Butte track and he executes turn three perfectly. Doc is once again angry that McQueen saw him that he rushed back to his garage. There, Doc explained how he was one of the best in the racing business ans how he was involved in a wreck and was replaced by a rookie like McQueen. Mater wakes up the next morning to find the road fixed and McQueen was no where to be found. The town shows up and everyone except Doc seems upset that McQueen left. McQueen then came up a hill and everyone's surprised he hasn't left yet. He decides to do the town one last favor. He buys tires at Luigi's Casa Della Tires, he drinks organic fuel from Fillmore, he gets a paint job from Ramone, and he helps out at Lizzie's Curio Shop. McQueen then shows Sally that he helped everyone fix their neon and made the old town look active once again. Then everyone goes cruising which was interrupted by floods of reporters coming in and literally took away McQueen. McQueen was upset he couldn't say good-bye. Later it was discovered that Doc reported McQueen's whereabouts to the reporters. Los Angeles Motor Speedway When he eventually gets to the Piston Cup tie-breaker - with his friends from Radiator Springs as his pit crew - McQueen manages to make it to the finish line before Chick Hicks and The King. But after seeing The King being deliberatly spun out of control by Chick, crashing into the infield, and remembering the crash that had ended Doc's career, McQueen stops before the finish line, which allows Chick to win and take the Piston Cup. McQueen decides to reverse back to help The King cross the finish line in order to retire with dignity. After the King reminds him how he just gave up the Piston Cup, Lightning reminds him of something Doc said, "It's just an empty cup." McQueen gains a large measure of respect from the public for this act of sportsmanship, and Dinoco offers him the endorsement after Chick is jeered by the crowd and denied the opportunity to celebrate for his reckless cheating. McQueen decides to stay with his original sponsor, Rust-eze, and moves his racing operations to Radiator Springs. Thanks to Lightning's endorsement, Radiator Springs sees a huge boost in tourism, and the town is saved, much to his friends' delight. ''Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales'' Lightning now serves as the deuteragonist in Mater's very own show. '' ''The show begins with Mater telling Lightning what he used to be and did in the past. However, Lightning never believes Mater (as he wasn't there), and whenever he asks Mater if the stories really happened, Mater will always say, "Don't you remember? You was there, too!". Then, Mater continues the stories, including Lightning's sudden participation. The episodes end with Mater leaves, often followed by the characters and/or references from Mater's stories, implying that the stories might be real. '' Cars 2 In the sequel, Lightning returns as the protagonist. This time around, Lightning is racing in the first ever World Grand Prix to determine who's the world's fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours, and hilarious surprises. Number 95 Lightning McQueen is still a hotshot racecar, but his rookie days are past him. Now a permanent resident of Radiator Springs, Lightning has become a bona fide worldwide celebrity as winner of four Piston Cups. After his latest win, Lightning returns home to enjoy life in the slow lane for a while with sweetheart Sally, best friend Mater and the rest of his Radiator Springs family. His off-season is unexpectedly cut short when Mater inadvertently prompts Lightning to enter the World Grand Prix, a high profile, three-part exhibition race that will take him around the globe. With a fresh custom paint job and real, working headlights, Lightning sets off to Japan, Italy and England with Mater in tow for the adventure of a lifetime. But competing against the fastest cars in the world tests more than his racing skills when Lightning realizes his wide-eyed best friend may not be the pit chief nor ambassador he needs to navigate the unfamiliar international terrain.1 Along the way, Lightning realizes what Mater is: Not the perfect crew chief, and not the world's best spy, but his best friend. He seacrches for Mater and finally finds him on the race track, scared to take action. But Lightning convinces his friend to continue his unfinished spy work. And in the end? Lightning decides to treat Mater better...and to stop taking racing advice from him. ''Cars video game In the Cars video game, written by Pixar and considered a continuation to the story and is cannon in the cars universe along with the rest of the in the rest of the cars video game series , Lightning McQueen finds himself at the start of the next Piston Cup season. With the help of the citizens of Radiator Springs, McQueen readies to start his quest for the Piston Cup, taking lessons in powersliding from Doc, boosting from Fillmore, and racing backwards from Mater. With his skills, Lightning once again makes a championship run in the Piston Cup, much to the irritation of Chick Hicks, who hates him. Fearing his title is in jeopardy, Chick enlists the assistance of The Delinquent Road Hazards—DJ, Boost, Wingo, and Snot Rod —the same rowdy cars who detoured McQueen to Radiator Springs, to hijack McQueen's racing gear from Mack on Interstate 40. Lightning is able to retrieve the goods and bring the delinquents to justice before winning the next race, which sends Chick into a frenzy. Lightning challenges Chick to a Grand Prix in Radiator Springs, followed by one more Piston Cup race in LA. Lightning wins these events, taking the Piston Cup in his sophomore season. At the end, Lightning, Mater, and Sally decide to take a celebratory trip across the country. When asked if he brought his trophy, Lightning notes he did not, but left it in a good place, at Doc Hudson's clinic next to the legend's own three Piston Cups. Though Lightning McQueen is still sponsored by Rust-eze, players are able to unlock McQueen with a Dinoco paint job while playing as him in Story Mode, Arcade Mode, and VS. Mode. The Toys There are many different die-cast Lightning McQueens. Here is the list of McQueens in the order they release. * Lightning McQueen * Dirt Track Lightning McQueen * Dinoco Lightning McQueen * Radiator Springs Lightning McQueen * Cruisin' Lightning McQueen * Bling Bling Lighting McQueen * Tongue Lighting McQueen * Bug Mouth Lightning McQueen * Cactus Lightning McQueen * Lightning McQueen with Bumper Stickers * Tar Lightning McQueen * Spin Out Lightning McQueen * Impound Lightning McQueen * Lightning Storm Lightning McQueen * Tumbleweed Lightning McQueen Official Artwork '' Image:LightningMcQueenCars.jpg|'Lightning McQueen' Image:BUG_MCQUEEN.jpg|'Bug Mouth McQueen' Image:RS_MCQUEEN.jpg|'Radiator Springs McQueen' Image:CRUISIN_MCQUEEN.jpg|'Cruisin' McQueen' Image:BLING_BLING_MCQUEEN.jpg|'Bling Bling McQueen' Image:STORM_MCQUEEN.jpg|'Lightning Storm McQueen' '' Category:Characters Category:Cars 2 Characters Category:Cars Toons Characters Category:Cars Characters Category:World Grand Prix Racecars Category:Piston Cup Racecars Category:Cars: The Video Game Characters Category:Cars Mater-National Characters Category:Cars Race-O-Rama Characters Category:Story Teller Characters Category:Movie Characters Category:Video Game Characters Category:Cars 2: The Video Game Characters